Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Soft Whole Wheat Pretzels!

I've been reading a lot of soft pretzel recipes lately, I'd like to make some soft pumpkin ones for Halloween. Two days ago, I read Autumn Vegan's post on the ppk, and I thought the recipe she posted sounded easy. I adapted the recipe to my liking today and dug in. These are a really fun and fast project, especially since it's so warm outside, I left my dough to rise on the backsteps. Autumn's pretzels must've been really freakin' huge, because I halved the recipe and still made six large ones of my own.

In a big bowl dissolve the sugar in 1 1/4 cups warm-to-the-touch water.

Add the yeast and let sit a few minutes until the yeast "blooms."

Stir in the flours and salt and mix to form a dough. If the dough seems too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it comes together.

Hand knead for ten minutes, or five minutes in a mixer with a dough hook.

Put the olive oil in a big bowl and turn the dough around in the oil until the sides of the bowl are oiled and the dough is covered in a light film.

Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled about 50 minutes.

Preheat oven to 475F.

In a pot with high sides (the water will foam up once the pretzels are added), bring 8 cups of water to a boil with the baking soda.

Divide the dough into six even pieces. One by one, carefully roll them into a coil that is 17" long and about 3/4-1" thick. Carefully twist each rope into a pretzel shape and pinch the ends of the rope to the body of the pretzel so they stay in place.

Boil three pretzels at a time for one minute, flip over with tongs and boil the second side for another minute.

Place on a silpat or greased cookie sheet and lightly blot off any foam with a towel.

Quickly sprinkle with sesame seeds and salt so they stick to the moist dough.

hey emily b.!chapati flour is a finely ground high gluten flour, you could probably double the whole wheat pastry flour or use a whole wheat bread flour with the same results. you could probably make these all white too. i think the dough is probably very forgiving...